When Min He is composing, every element of her soul comes to life. It is her passion and her career choice. More importantly, however, it is her reason to wake up in the morning. For He, composing allows her to translate the inner workings of her mind into beautiful ensembles for her audience’s enjoyment. She has an ear for the perfect sound, and an ability to identify that sound and bring it to life for the better of every project she works on. She is talented beyond belief and she has established a career out of a passion she would happily do anyway.
As an award-winning composer, Min is responsible for scoring music for visual arts. With that, she seamlessly creates a second layer of dialogue in each script that she handles, telling stories in their own, unique way. In that sense, she is a dramatist and she has channeled this skill into quality compositions for the better of several films, television shows and video games. At the age of 5, He began playing the piano and the accordion. By the age of 8, she was already composing music and planting seeds of greatness in the industry she now helps lead. At the outset of her career, He served as an orchestrator on several concert projects, such as Hayao Miyazaki’s Animation. Following a series of successful concerts in China, He won the Excellence Award at the PalatinoNational Composition Competition Awards for her work on the concert Snow. In the same year, her work from Snow was selected for a Piano Piece Book which was later published in 2008. She is also a Composer and Publisher at the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), as well as a member of the Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL).
In addition to concert works, He has a decorated career in film, television, and video game scoring. She has composed for films such as Gang Wu’s comedy, No Smoking. For No Smoking, He was tasked with developing music to compliment 116 minutes of film, which is no small feat for even the most talented of composers. He, however, did so seemingly effortlessly and carried the film’s storyline to great heights with her uncanny ability to elicit an emotional response from her audience. In fact, when He scored for the moving film, Princess Eun Hwa, she managed to magnify the devastating nature of the film with her music and the results were profound. The film was nominated for Best Original Score at the Mindfield Film Festival, Toronto International Norllywood Film Festival, NYC Indie Film Awards, and several more. There are truly no limits to what He can achieve when she sets her mind to it.
“Whenever people ask me what sort of advice I would offer them if they wished to build a career like mine, I tell them to start by listening to all kinds of music. It is crucial in my field to learn music composition skills, midi programming, and orchestration but the true key, is to keep building and refreshing those skills as you go along. You have to design your own sound and never hesitate to be as creative as possible. In combination with your composition skills, it also helps to have an appreciation for film and to acquire as much movie knowledge as possible to know how best to enhance stories through music,” said He.
If you were to take a mere browse through He’s extensive experience in the industry, one thing is sure to stand out. In 2014, He began working for Christopher Young at Ilsley Music as an intern. Once she eased into the role and her talents were noticed, He was eventually asked on as a full time employee and was humbled by the opportunity to work with such a highly acclaimed composer. Young is the president of Ilsley Music and has scored over one hundred television and video game projects. With that, he has been nominated for several prestigious awards, including but not limited to a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards. Young’s strong reputation and keen eye for talent are the reason he was able to identify He’s potential as a composer. During her time at Ilsley Music, He has been able to branch out, refine her skills and work with some of the best composers that the industry has to offer. Having worked closely with He on a number of projects during her time at Ilsley Music, Young knows first hand of her prowess as a composer.
“After working with Min on some of my film and video game projects, such as Monkey King 2, I can confidently say that she is a very gifted composer. We’re lucky to have her on our team,” told Young.
He is optimistic about the future of her career through her continued work at Ilsley Music, she strives to compose for as many high-quality films, television shows, and video games as possible. She has a rare gift that needs to be shared with the world and she is fortunate to get to do so on a daily basis and call it a job.